Whenever I talked to him he was right there with me in a way that no one else has ever been. People sometimes complained when they asked questions that he wouldn’t answer their questions but instead talk about something else. I used to think so too until I started paying closer attention. That’s when I noticed that he always answered the questions people asked. It’s just that the questioners often, like me, had no idea what they were really asking.

I can’t have a post on punk rock Buddhists without a soupçon of Noah Levine.

Miguel Chen, who I interviewed a little while back here on FCE has started blogging and I am beyond stoked! After following his posts on Facebook in which he often drops some of his thoughts on Buddhism, sex, life, death and everything in between, it’s great to see Miguel sharing his experiences as a punk rock Buddhist. He also is very open about being into BDSM, which may seem contrary what you’d expect of the traditional perception of Buddhists being lovey-touchey-feeley-tender-gentle kinfolk. In all honesty, after reading his recent post titled “A Year to Live and My Dominatrix“, I am seriously thinking about swapping my meditation instructor for a dominatrix.

When my Dominatrix started the training, I quickly began to notice some very positive changes. Suddenly exercise was fun and eating right was easier than ever before. The chores (she has me cleaning my house thoroughly) and assignments are tough sometimes, but I always feel a strong sense of accomplishment when they’re done. Now more than ever I feel like if I were to die I could feel good about how I’ve been treating my body. Of course it helps that I love BDSM and Dominatrices in general, so this angle won’t necessarily work for everybody… BUT my point is there are ways to make taking care of ourselves fun. And when we take care of ourselves physically and mentally we can feel good about how we are living our lives. When we feel honestly good about how we live, then there’s not really a lot to fear in death. So I guess in a roundabout way, the best way to deal with death is to live with an open heart and to try our best. So whatever you need to do, whether it’s reading a book, going to church or having a Dominatrix motivate you, try your best my friends. Find what works for you and fucking try, because you never know when it might all be over. May we all take care of each other and try our honest best.

I haven’t watched the videos yet, but I’m hoping they are as amusing as the quotes on your post. I will never think about the work of a dominatrix the same way. I have been told by several people that I am good at supervising others and at times downright bossy. Maybe that would be a good profession for me.

I resonate with down-to-earth humans as opposed to the touchy feely ones myself. There seems to be something “phony” about the touchy feely ones ( I know they fart and swear like everyone else) so why not be honest about it? I can be empathetic and compassionate and I can also come across as a heartless bitch.

Deepak Chopra has many thought provoking things to contribute but I have seen him become arrogant if someone questions his beliefs (like an atheist).

And there are those who claim to have all the answers about life and death and come across as “superior” to all other beliefs. It’s a real “turn off” to me.

I enjoy learning about Zen and practicing Zazen because it requires me to think, instead of being spoon fed dogma. There are many “thinkers” out there in blog land who I believe have a lot to contribute without an agenda (making oodles of money). I prefer reading what they have to say than the more famous ones.